Five members of the conference-champion Fullerton College Hornets, including Offensive Player of the Year Misael Gonzalez, earned top billing for this year's All-Orange Empire Conference Men's Soccer Team, as voted on by the head coaches at the end-of-season meeting.
Gonzalez, who earned Conference MVP honors for the OEC last season, continued his stellar play in 2023. This year's Offensive Player of the Year dominated the conference with an OEC-best 27 goals and 61 points this season. In conference play, Gonzalez racked up a conference-best 17 goals and 51 points. His 27 goals and 61 points were second-most in the state, trailing El Camino College's Marvin Gamez (28 goals, 66 points) for the top spot.
Defensive Player of the Year honors went to Lennart Granzow of Irvine Valley College. Granzow scored five goals and added an assist in 2023, but his stellar play on defense helped the Lasers hold their opponents to one goal or less in 13 of the 19 matches he played in.
Four other Fullerton players – Angel Sevillano, Evan Yoell, Garret Eikermann and Hayden Kenney earned first-team honors, while second-team honors went to teammates Mario Floriano, Jona Ortiz and Cesar Marquez.
The 2023 Hornets topped the rest of the OEC opponents and finished conference champs with an 11-1-2 OEC record, ahead of IVC (7-1-6), Saddleback (6-4-4), Cypress (6-5-3), Santa Ana (5-4-5), Golden West (5-6-3), Orange Coast (3-10-1) and Santiago Canyon (0-12-2).
OEC Coach of the Year honors went to Fullerton College's Greg Aviles, after guiding his Hornets to the conference title and a 19-3-2 overall record. It's his fourth OEC Coach of the Year selection (2018, 2019, 2022, 2023).
Coach of the Year | Greg Aviles, Fullerton | |||||
Offensive Player of the Year | Misael Gonzalez*, Fullerton, (So. Forward) | |||||
Defensive Player of the Year | Lennart Granzow, Irvine Valley (So. Defender) | |||||
First Team All-Conference | Second Team All-Conference | |||||
1 | Angel Sevillano | Fullerton | 1 | Mario Floriano | Fullerton | |
2 | Evan Yoell | Fullerton | 2 | Jona Ortiz | Fullerton | |
3 | Garret Eikermann | Fullerton | 3 | Cesar Marquez | Fullerton | |
4 | Hayden Kenney | Fullerton | 4 | Gabriel Velasco | IVC | |
5 | Grant Miller | IVC | 5 | Jacob Edwards | IVC | |
6 | Ivan Lopez | IVC | 6 | Lucas Stark | IVC | |
7 | Anthony Ocampo | IVC | 7 | Alex Martinez | Saddleback | |
8 | Joel Smith | Saddleback | 8 | Spencer Simis | Saddleback | |
9 | Ryan Mann | Saddleback | 9 | David Retzko | Cypress | |
10 | Dominic DiFrenna | Saddleback | 10 | Gerardo Serna | Cypress | |
11 | Christian Charvoya | Cypress | 11 | Sean Allen | Golden West | |
12 | Angel Cristobal | Cypress | 12 | Christopher Sollano | Golden West | |
13 | Saul Vasquez | Santa Ana | 13 | Brady Powell | Orange Coast | |
14 | Vincent Lopez | Santa Ana | 14 | Steven Garcia | Orange Coast | |
15 | Daniel Barragan | Golden West | 15 | Marck Rayo | Santa Ana | |
16 | Francisco Vieria | Golden West | 16 | Remy Barazin | Santa Ana | |
17 | Grayson Marquez | Orange Coast | 17 | Jorge Garcia Cruz | Santiago Canyon | |
18 | Rene Coello | Santiago Canyon | 18 | Nick Asam | Santiago Canyon | |
* | UNANIMOUS SELECTION |
Release by Tony Altobelli, Orange Coast